Just because they survived rallies and Pikes Peak doesn’t mean Volkswagen is keeping its famous cars wrapped in cotton wool for ever more. In fact, they’ve just announced that they’ll be taking four of them to the famous Ice Race in Zell am See, Austria on January 19-20. The one that Volkswagen is excited about is the electric prototype ID. R, which beat the conventional-engined cars at Pikes Peak with a time of 7 minutes 57 seconds. That will be on static display at the event. But the ones we’re really excited about are the two Mk2 Golfs, one the 1986 GTI Group A world rally champion and the other the twin-engined 1986 Pikes Peak car, both of which will be racing on the ice.
That crazy 590bhp twin-engined Golf and its driver Jochi Kleint were on course for victory at Pikes Peak in 1987 but suspension trouble forced retirement just metres from the finish line and with the checkered flag in sight. Disaster for one of the greatest Golfs ever made! The other Golf, still in its distinctive Triumph-Adler livery, was driven by Kenneth Eriksson to win the Group A title in the World Rally Championship–the predecessor to today’s top category in the WRC. Volkswagen are also taking the current Polo GTI R5 customer rally car to do battle on the ice.
And if that’s not enough for you, how about this driver line-up? Pikes Peak record-holder Romain Dumas and German rally ace Klaus-Joachim “Jochi” Kleint, who drove for Volkswagen at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb from 1985 to 1987. This is going to be one exciting ice race.
Images courtesy of Volkswagen
